You don't have to increase the strength. If you're satisfied with the results you're getting stick with what you're using. If you're not satisfied then try increasing. Be aware though that increasing strength may result in increased irritation.

You don't have to move up at all, and if your skin is not iritated from that strength, there's no reason to move up. It will deliver results. Some argue that the lower strengths deliver the same results as the higher ones. The skin can only absorb so much retin A no matter what strength you use!

I was just wondering the very same thing! I've been using 0.25% for many years, and wanted to try micro 0.4%. Eventually, I bought several tubes from ADC in different strengths, and plan to use them strategically, like if I want to induce a light peel, use the 0.5% cream I purchased. I will continue to use the 0.25% daily for the most part, since it works for me.

I ran across this study comparing .025 retin A to .1%. Here are the key points:

Results
Both 0.1% and 0.025% tretinoin produced statistically significant overall improvement in photoaging of the face compared with vehicle; there were no clinically or statistically significant differences in efficacy between the two concentrations of tretinoin. After 48 weeks, 0.1% and 0.025% tretinoin produced similar statistically significant epidermal thickening (by 30% and 28%, respectively) compared with vehicle (11% decrease) and increased vascularity (by 100% and 89%, respectively) compared with vehicle (9% decrease). By various analyses, irritant side effects (erythema and scaling) were statistically significantly greater with 0.1% tretinoin than with 0.025% tretinoin. No significant changes occurred in any immunologic markers when tretinoin and vehicle treatments were compared.

Conclusions
Tretinoin 0.1% and 0.025% produce similar clinical and histologic changes in patients with photoaging, despite significantly greater incidence of irritation with the higher concentration. The separation between clinical improvement and irritation suggests that mechanisms other than irritation dominate tretinoininduced repair of photoaging in humans.

In my opinion, you don't need to increase the strength if you are already happy with the results that you are getting. You have to pay a bit more for a higher strength but why pay more? You have to remember that after getting the results that you want, you still need to maintain it for life.... Take your time...

carforum wrote:

I have been using Retin A for a year, and I am using 0.025%. I want to know when should I increase the percentage of Retin A?
Thanks for help

you can increase the strength if you feel you arent peeling as much as you would like to.

I don't necessarily think that peeling is an indication of effectiveness. With any Retin-A strength, you will peel initially. But the premise is that as the skin adjusts to the drug, you will eventually stop peeling. This has certainly been my experience. I don't think that anyone wants peeling skin continually.

_________________Born 1950. There's a new cream on the market that gets rid of wrinkles - you smear it on the mirror!!

Conclusions
Tretinoin 0.1% and 0.025% produce similar clinical and histologic changes in patients with photoaging, despite significantly greater incidence of irritation with the higher concentration. The separation between clinical improvement and irritation suggests that mechanisms other than irritation dominate tretinoininduced repair of photoaging in humans.

I've read this comparison as well and believe its findings. I started using retin-a 3 1/2 years ago at the .025% strength. For about 8 or 9 months, I had good results. During that time, I felt I should increase my dose. I amped up to .05% and then to .1%. After a couple of years, my face was a peely-looking mess. I concluded I became allergic/sensitive to something in it and quit using it. About a month ago, I decided to try it again with these things in mind: use just the .025%, and use only a pea-sized amount (I think I subconsciously started using more than this also, which contributed to my problem). I'm having no problems at all and am happy with my results. I learned my lesson. I get mine from 4 Corners Pharmacy and was so happy when they started carrying the gel formulation. I just got my new tube yesterday -- a whopping 60 grams for $45. I'm a happy camper!

I started with 0.025% about 3 months ago. I went up to 0.05% after 6 weeks as I saw no redness or peeling and I have still not had any adverse reaction. I would be reluctant to go any higher than this though and just hope that I will start to see improvements.
I think you need to do what your skin is telling you is right.

_________________Dry - Combo Skin - added Retin A to my pm skincare regime on March 20, 2015---I have used Rosehip and coconut oil-daily-for over a year and this significally reduced my scarring and evened my skin tone

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Sun Aug 02, 2015 1:23 pm

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